Good news for the Textile industry
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In August, Pakistan's textile sector experienced a continued decline in exports, reaching $1.48 billion, which marked a 6% drop from the $1.58 billion recorded in the same month of the previous year. This information comes from provisional data released by the All Pakistan
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) on Saturday. The data also revealed that in the first eight months of the calendar year 2023, the country's textile exports decreased by 19% to $10.58 billion, down from $13 billion during the same period in 2022.
This year-on-year decline is a cause for concern for Pakistan's economy, which is grappling with a foreign exchange shortage, leading to a depreciation of the rupee by over 25% in the inter-bank market since the beginning of 2023.
On a positive note, there was a 13% improvement in monthly textile exports, rising from $1.31 billion in July. While the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has seen some improvement in forex reserves, currently standing at $7.8 billion due to inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and bilateral partners like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, these reserves continue to be under pressure due to external debt servicing.
Caretaker Federal Minister for Commerce and Industries and Production, Dr. Gohar Ejaz, who also serves as the patron-in-chief of APTMA, recently set an ambitious target of $25 billion in textile exports for the current financial year, surpassing the $16 billion target from the previous fiscal year.
He also pledged a swift revival of all closed industries within the country, setting a tight one-month deadline, and expressed confidence in exceeding this export milestone. Gohar emphasized the commitment to systematically address challenges hindering the textile sector's operations.
